An analysis of female college student attitudes on issues of ethics in cosmetics : Taiwan and United States

Abstract:

From the above information, it is evident that there are differences between Eastern and Western attitudes toward ethical issues in the cosmetics industry. Taiwan and United States were the countries selected for this study because of the language and audience accessibility. Female college students from 18-30 years old were selected as the sample for the study because they are primary users. They were asked to respond to a number of ethical questions about cosmetics.Public relations people who work on behalf of cosmetics companies have struggled to justify themselves when it comes to complaints; often the company they represent can be sued. Many of the cosmetic products are widely distributed internationally. The image of the company is the first thing that the public relations person needs to protect; however the public relations people must consider public interest at the same time. Harlow stated:"Public relations is the distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management to keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication as its principal tools." (Harlow 1976, 36)Company product literature discloses ethical issues about the cosmetics, and the issues can be divided into two categories - direct and indirect. Direct problems are about the cosmetics products themselves, such as ingredients in the cosmetics; how cosmetics samples in department stores can spread diseases when reused; the preservative period; allergies; safety; cosmetics contaminated with bacteria, and so on. Sixty-five out of the 200 reports that the FDA received in 1994 complained about allergic reactions and skin irritation (Stehlin 1995). Twenty out of 65 cosmetic consumers in the reports said they were concerned about products containing the chemical alpha hydroxy acid (AHA), which is a skin peeler (Stehlin 1995). More than just the individual concerns, the organizations also receive ethical questions about cosmetics products.Indirect problems include infections caused by the contact with cosmetics, such as the eye infections due to a scratch by mascara wands, animal testing used for the ingredients in cosmetics, teen cosmetics problems, untruthful or deficient instructions, and so on. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has argued with the National Academy of Science (AMA) since 1980s about the issue of animal testing in cosmetic. One claims the rights of the animals, and one asserts that PETA has hindered significant medical research and this will cause development of new medicine to be hindered for some severe diseases and also slow down research on the effects of cosmetics on consumers.Although many articles try to report on ethical issues in cosmetics, it is hard to find scholarly literature directed to public relations practitioners. This study will attempt to provide public relations practitioners with some scholarly sources about how one of their biggest consumer groups - young college female look at these issues. This study seeks to provide resources for them about preventing occurrence of the problems, and if not, at least provide some views that will be useful for public relations people to rethink their current campaign, or the strategic planning.